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Next week Parliament begins debating Bill C-237, the Candidate Gender Equity Act. My private member’s bill seeks to change our electoral laws and incentivize political parties to run more women candidates during elections. With Canada ranked 60th in the world when it comes to electing women MPs, it is clear we are not doing enough to address gender equity in our most important democratic institution.

On the surface, Canadian federal politics have recently become a shining example of gender equity. Prime Minister Trudeau proudly calls himself a feminist and has gained international acclaim for appointing the country’s first gender-balanced cabinet.

But dig a little deeper and it’s clear that we still have huge problems. Even in 2016, only 26 per cent of our MPs are women. Very few or no women sit on most standing committees. More and more women politicians – most recently Conservative MP Michelle Rempel – are speaking out about the pervasive and poisonous culture of sexism in Ottawa.

New legislation links political party subsidies to gender equity measures

OTTAWA – Today, Kennedy Stewart, MP for Burnaby South, introduced a bill designed to bring gender parity to the House of Commons by incentivizing political parties to nominate more women in future elections.